Article of rainwear



Dec. 26, 1961 s. BRUNETTO ARTICLE OF RAINWEAR Filed July 20, 1960INVENTOR. d'flMUE-L BEUNETTO BY ATTORNEY baa United stats patent 01kt?York Filed July 20, 1960, Ser. No. 44,035 2 Claims. (Cl. 2205) Thisinvention relates to rainwear, and is particularly, although notexclusively, directed to water-repellent hood and shoulder capes.

Rain-proof hoods that can be folded or compressed into a small packetconvenient for being carried in a purse or pocket are generally made ofthin plastic water-impervious sheeting such as polyethylene. Althoughsuch hoods serve their essential waterproofing purpose, they arecharacterized by the shortcoming-notably present in the foldable type ofhoodthat the opening up of the hood from its packed condition requirestime-consuming manual manipulation. This short-coming reduces theutility of the hood not only because of the handling annoyance ofunfolding a large number of pleated sections, but also because the timenecessary for unfolding it to its fully open condition may result inunduly delayed protection in the event of sudden rainfall. Moreover, therefolding operation requires both time, patience and manual dexterity.

It is an object of my invention to provide a hood type of rainwear thatis effective for rain protection yet which does not have the aforesaidshortcoming. In the accomplishment of this objective I have provided astructure that can be quickly compressed, by a squeezing and crumplingmanipulation, into a compact .form in which it can be maintained bytying or inserting in a thin plastic bagand that when released from itscompressed condition will spring into an operatively open conditionallwithout any folding or unfolding operations.

It is another object of my invention to employ conventional thin plasticsheeting material as the water-repelling medium, but in a novelcombination with a netting or open-work mesh material of resilientproperties which will impart a spring-like opening action to the plasticsheeting, and which will also serve as an air-pervious lining to preventthe sheeting from clinging to the skin of the wearer.

Another object of my invention, in one form thereof, is the provision ofthe aforesaid netting on opposite sides of the water-proof sheeting,both to enhance the said resilient opening force imparted to saidsheeting and to provide two-sided protection for the sheeting.

It is a further object of this invention to add to the aestheticappearance of rainwear of the above category by providing a delicatelace-like texture thereto, without interfering with the desirabletransparency of the usual plastic sheeting used for such articles.

Another important object of my invention is the provision of acombination hood and shoulder cape having the above-mentioned features,whereby the neck and shoulder portions, as well as the head of thewearer, are fully protected. And in this aspect of my invention it is myobjective to permit an operative creasing of the juncture of the hoodand cape portions, so that both portions will attractively conform tothe shape of the head and shoulders of the wearer.

And it is my further objective to provide an inexpensive and readilyfabricated garment of the above-referred-to category having the featuresaforesaid.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawings andthe description hereinafter given.

Referring to the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a form of my invention embodying a hoodand shoulder cape.

3,014,221 Patented Dec. 26, 1961 FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentaryvertical section of FIG. 1 taken along line 22 thereof. 1

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of FIG. 1 taken substantiallyalong line 3--3.

FIG. 4 is a perspectiive view of the garment of FIG. 1 in compressedform.

The form of my invention illustrated inFIGS. 1 to 4 comprises the hoodportion 10, the shoulder cape portion 11 and the juncture portiontherebtween generally designated 12. The open front 13 of the hoodportion is defined by the front edge 14, the front of the cape portioncomprising the front wings 15 and 16, these being extensions of thesides 17 and 18 and the back 19 of said cape portion. Edge 20 definesthe bottom. of the garment, said edge being continuous with the frontedges 21 and 22 of the cape portion. Extending from the front edges ofsaid juncture portion 12 are the two tying ribbons 23 and 24.

The hood and cape portions'eaoh comprises a thin water-proof plasticsheet, and inner and outer open-mesh resilient sheetings flanking theplastic sheet. The plastic sheet is preferably transparent, a suitablematerial being polyethylene. The open-mesh sheetings may be nettingmaterial made of nylon thread, or of any other preferablywater-repellent synthetic or natural fibre of somewhat springy orresilient properties, so that upon being deformed or bent they will tendto return to their original extended condition; or the said open meshsheeting may be treated with suitable sizing material to impart a stiffresilient structure thereto.

In the embodiment shown, the hood portion 10 comprises the intermediatewater-proof plastic sheet 25, the outer resilient netting 26 and theinner resilient netting 27; and the cape portion 11 comprises theintermediate Water-proof plastic sheet 28, the outer resilient netting29 and the inner resilient netting 30. The said plastic sheets 25 and 28are in overlapping relation at said juncture portion 12 so as to presenta continuous water-proof struc ture. It will be noted, however, that thesaid resilient nettings extend only partly into said juncture portion12, so that said latter portion contains, substantially at the medialportion thereof, no resilient netting material. The portion 31 of theplastic sheeting within the juncture portion is thus free of nettingmaterial, for reasons which are hereinbelow set forth. The respectiveouter and inner bands 32 and 33, preferably made of flexiblenon-resilient material, are also components of said juncture portion,these being attached to the adjacent nettin-gs and plastic sheeting bysewing or other suitable means. The edges 14 and 20 may be sealed orstitched in any known manner, the preferred form of edge, as illustratedfor edge 14, comprising the folded-over portion 25a of the plastic sheet25, the folded-over portion 27a of the inner netting 27 embracing saidportion 25a, and the forward end portion 26a of the outer netting 26overlapping said portion 27a, the stitching 34 securing said edgeportions together.

The plastic sheets 25 and 28 are extremely thin, pliable andnon-resilient; and if crumpled or squeezed togetherwhen not combined inthe manner aforesaid with the said netting material-they would remain ina compressed form until manually unfolded or expanded. But, in thestructure of my invention, the resilient netting sheetings 26, 27, 29and 30 are combinatively used with said plastic sheets throughout theirextent, except at the annular portion 31 in the juncture 12. Hence, uponthe release of a previously crumpled or folded garment of my invention,the resilient netting sheets will spring back into their originalextended positions, the attached plastic sheets 25 and 28 moving withsaid netting sheets into their extended operative positions. This actionoccurs immediately after the untying of the ribbons 2B and 24 holdingtogether the compressed garment as indicated in FIG. 4-or immediatelyupon the withdrawal of the untied compressed garment from a bag. Notedious and time-consuming unfolding or pulling operations need beperformed as in the case of conventional compressible plastic garments;and in reducing the garment into a compact package, the only operationrequired is a quick crumpling or squeezing action, thereby obviating thecareful folding operations required in certain conventional garments inorder to effect a ready unfolding thereof.

The said netting material not only serves as a means for etfecting aquick opening of the garment, but also serves as a means for preventingthe plastic sheet 2 5 from clinging to the face of the wearer. Thenetting 27, being positioned on the inside of the hood serves as anairpervious lining and barrier, whereby the plastic sheet is kept out ofcontact with the face, any moisture on said sheet being subject toevaporation through the inter stices of the netting material. Althoughin the preferred form illustrated the plastic sheets 25 and 2 3 areflanked the mauer aforesaid, by the use of resilient netting sheetings,it is understood that the opening and expanding function of theresilient netting can be accomplished, in the manner aforesaid, by theuse of resilient netting sheeting operatively disposed on one side onlyof said plastic sheets.

The combinativeuse of netting material and transparent plastic sheetsalso has aesthetic utility in that a lace-like appearance is presentedsimilar to that of a veil worn over the head and shouldersan'etfecttotally absent in the conventional plastic hoods.

As aforesaid, there is a portion 31 of the plastic sheeting in theregion of the juncture portion 12 that is not fllanlced by the resilientnettingan arrangement which permits said portion 31 freely to bend andform the annular crease 35 without interference by the netting. Thisresults in a well-defined separation between the hood portion 10 andcape portion 11, the entire cape portion being adapted to lie upon andbe fully supported by the shoulders and back of the wearer. The annularreinforcing bands 32 and 33, being as aforesaid non-resilient, will alsobend substantialy along the annular crease 36, providing additionalprotection at such region.

In the above description, the invention has been disclosed merely by wayof example and in preferred manner; but obviously many variations andmodifications may be made therein. It is to be understood, therefore,that the invention is not limited to any specific form or manner ofpracticing same, except insofar as such limitations are specified in theappended claims.

I claim: 1

1. In an article of rainwear, a hood portion, a cape portion and ajuncture portion therebetween, said hood and cape portions eachcomprising a thin, pliable waterimpervious sheet and a thin resilientsheeting of netting material attached thereto, said netting materialextending partly into said juncture portion and at least one of saidwater-impervious sheets extending along the entire extent of saidjuncture portion, the medial section of said juncture portion beinguncovered by said netting material and being bendable along an annularcrease.

2. In an article of rainwear, a hood portion, a cape portion and ajuncture portion therebetween, said hood and cape portions eachcomprising a thin, pliable, plastic nonresilient, transparent andwater-impervious sheet and two thin, resilient sheetings of nettingmaterial flanking and attached to the respective water-impervious sheetsof said hood and cape portions, said netting material extending partlyinto said juncture portion and at least one of said water-impervioussheets extending along the entire extent of said juncture portion, themedial section of said juncture portion being uncovered by said nettingmaterial and being bendable along an annular crease.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,288,865 Freese Dec. 24, 1918 1,562,767 Hess NOV. 24, 1925 2,305,605Craig et al. Dec. 22, 1942 2,598,090 Yung et al. May 27, 1952

